Planet in Peril: Urgent Action Needed

Bríd Smith TD, who has brought a Climate Emergency Bill to the Dáil, explains why recent events should be a wake up call on the need for urgent action against climate change.

Our climate is changing, and changing fast. How could it not be, given the record temperatures in the last few weeks? This unprecedented heatwave has impacted most of the Northern Hemisphere. From the scorching plains of Northern Africa to the blistering climate of the Middle East, new and alarming records are being set on a daily basis. In the coastal city of Quriyat in Oman, for example, the temperature didn’t drop below 108.7 degrees (42.6 Celsius) in one particular 24-hour period last month. This may well be the highest minimum temperature ever observed on Earth. A terrifying thought.

Even in countries not known for their hot climates, all-time records are being set. In Quebec, record temperatures have left at least 54 people dead. Normally mild and wet, British weather has been beset with moorland fires more akin to Southern California. Ireland, too, has felt the sudden surge in heat, with Belfast hitting an all-time record of 85.1 degrees (29.5 Celsius) on June 28.

Of course, no single temperature can be directly linked to climate change. But taken together, as part of wider pattern, there can be no doubt that a rapid change in temperature is taking place. Indeed, the warming trend was apparent long before this latest heatwave; the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that all 18 years of the 21st century are among the 19 warmest on record.

Some scientists are now suggesting that climate change may be happening at a greater rate than first thought. Even if they were wrong, the case for urgent action couldn’t be stronger. There is good reason to be hopeful that change can be enacted. Millions of people are waking up to the reality of climate change like never before. Not only of the changes in our weather, but also of the alarming rate of species extinction, the accruing disaster of oceanic plastic, and the rapid rise in sea levels. But this desire for action has so far not been reflected by the practice of our governments. And time is running out.

Action Needed

We need action, therefore. But our rulers the world over have not delivered. Why is this the case? Last year, I went to the COP 23 conference in Bonn—a climate change event organised by the UN. I attended a number of meetings, some of which were slickly put together, many of them fascinating. But I was shocked that not once did I hear any mention of the need to curtail the activities of the giant multinationals that dominate the oil gas or coal industries. Not once were the profits that drive these companies mentioned or questioned. Only in the protests outside, at fringe events, or in the occupation of a nearby open case coal pit, were the activities of the fossil fuel industry questioned or challenged.

I found it remarkable that an event solely dedicated to climate change could ignore the role of the fossil fuel industry. But the profit motive appears to trump the need for actually tackling climate change. It’s now 26 years since the Kyoto treaty which was meant to reduce the global CO2 emissions that are driving climate change. In those 26 years, science has confirmed our worst fears—CO2 emissions from human industry are warming the globe and the process is accelerating, running the risk of leaving large parts of the planet uninhabitable for humans and other species. This is not some frightening future scenario that awaits generations yet to come; it’s here, it’s now, and we are living through it.

In the years since Kyoto, CO2 emissions have increased by over 60%, according to Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The world’s leaders and captains of industry have done next to nothing to avoid the worst case scenarios. Elaborate conferences, treaty’s and attempts to use market forces have utterly failed to limit the rise in carbon emissions that are driving climate change. And it gets worse. Last year—according to the statistical report released annually by BP—more CO2 was emitted than ever in human history; levels unseen by humans since our evolution on the planet and probably the highest in over 2 million years. This report is significant because claims were made in recent years that emissions were levelling off. It turns out, as many suggested, that the levelling in emissions was more a hangover from the great recession. Last year’s rise means we are fully on course for a 2-degree global temperature rise.

Extreme weather events are occurring at a pace and frequency that they now routinely break records. Hurricanes, heatwaves, droughts, record ice sheet melting in the Arctic dominate the news every other day. The crisis is having profound effects on many of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. An excellent resource that documents the different effects is the Union of Concerned Scientists site (https://www.climatehotmap.org/)—it leaves no doubt what is happening or the speed that it is happening at. The facts are there.

Climate Emergency Bill

Clearly climate change is something that should concern us all. That is why I submitted the Climate Emergency Bill in the Dáil after I returned from the Bonn conference in November. The idea was simple; a law that would ban exploration for fossil fuels in Ireland. We have already banned onshore fracking, but the Government department charged with tackling climate change was busy issuing licences to company’s like Providence Resources (run by Tony O’Reilly jnr) and Petrel Resources (which owns diamond mines and oil wells in Iraq and Africa). While these firms have a questionable record of actually discovering any oil or gas, their activities can wreak havoc on the environment. Ironically, the business of exploring for oil and gas doesn’t have to find any to make profits. They generate profit by the speculation that there may be oil and gas there. Providence Resources, for instance, claimed they would find 5 billion barrels of oil at one site last year off the Porcupine Basin. They found nothing but water. Had they found oil, however, that 5 billion barrels when burnt would have released as much CO2 as Ireland’s yearly average for about 25 years.

This is not a harmless endeavour. The Irish state subsidises these activities and it causes real damage to sea life, fisheries and whale and dolphin populations. These companies can sit on licences for decades and speculate them on international markets. Moreover, when gas was found (in Corrib for example), the Irish state ensured that big companies benefited, not ordinary people. As Amanda Slevin—author of Gas, Oil and the Irish State—told the Dáil Committee hearing on the bill, we have effectively privatised the country’s natural resources. Successive Ministers since Ray Burke (including, ironically, the Green Party’s Eamon Ryan) have overseen a system that means no royalties are paid to the state, and there is a low tax on any profits where a company can claim 100% of the exploration costs before paying a penny in tax. It also means they are under no obligation to sell the discovered oil or gas back to the state. The market will decide where it goes and for how much.

In any future discovery the only winners will be the oil and gas companies. The carbon burnt will add to the record levels in the atmosphere and propel us to temperature rises above 3 or 4 degrees. My Climate Emergency Measures Bill would stop any minister granting any more licenses for exploration once the levels of CO2 are above 350 ppm. That is the level that scientists such as those who authored the report “A safe operating space for humanity” believe is the maximum that is safe for the earth’s life and biodiversity.

Irish State & Climate Change

According to Leo Varadkar, climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity. He is right but he is also a complete hypocrite. He has no intention of taking any meaningful steps to counter the catastrophe that is unfolding around the planet. Ireland’s record is appalling; we are ranked second lowest in a recent Climate Action Network report for taking meaningful steps on climate. The Government has tried trickery in accountancy and special pleading to duck out of actually reducing our CO2 emissions. Public transport has remained grossly underfunded and the government is at the behest of developers who have gutted proposed housing standards that could have reduced energy demands in thousands of homes.

The hypocrisy of Irish elites is glaring. Like the rest of the world’s elite, they cling to the belief that the market or new technology can save the day. It can’t; we need to force them to leave 80% of proven reserves of fossil fuels in the ground, to move massively to renewable energy and to reduce the levels of energy used. This is not just a technological or engineering problem. Such measures cut against the very basis of capitalism and its incessant drive for profits and new markets. “Accumulate, accumulate, that is Moses and the Prophets” of capitalism, as Marx said.

We have a huge task on our hands to challenge the fossil fuel giants and the profits they expect from their reserves of oil, coal and gas. The Climate Emergency Bill is only a first step to challenging them. Every campaign we fight in; for public transport, for decent housing and retro-fitted homes, will all be part of that fight for the planet’s future. Moreover, we need to rescue the environmental movement from the grip of those who continue to believe in the market and neoliberalism as a solution. The fight for socialism is also the fight for a decent habitable planet for all life.

It is, as Rachel Carson said, a fight against “the Gods of profits and production.”